Arsenal get boost in Higuain hunt as Juventus are warned off

A week ago it appear Juventus were in pole position to sign Gonzalo Higuain, with the Argentine pictured on the front of several Italian newspapers and negotiations between the club and player confirmed.

While Higuain was said to have agreed in principle a four-year deal with the Turin club, Juventus have not been able to agree a price with Real Madrid for the player.

Today, Spanish newspaper Sport claimed that Arsenal had reached a basic deal with Real Madrid, dependent on Champions League qualification, which would see the striker agree terms on a five-year deal.

Clearly Arsenal are playing for much more than points against Wigan and Newcastle in their final two games, their summer plans depend on them winning.

Earlier today we expressed our reservations about the deal, on the above basis and the likelihood that Juventus would rejoin the chase for the striker, seeing as there was just €2 million between their €20 million offer refused by Real Madrid and Arsenal's accepted offer of €22 million.

But Arsenal's chances may have been given a boost by Juventus being warned off the Argentine striker by their former director - who wants them to sign a former West Ham flop instead.

Luciano Moggi, who was forced to resign as general director of Juventus in the wake of Italian football's 2006 match-fixing scandal, does not believe the Argentine is the answer to the club's striker search.

He said: "Diamanti has proven to be a player who solves the matches and also to have the right DNA for Juve, is a warrior.

"Higuain is a good player has nothing of the (DNA) sample."

Moggi remains a football pundit in Italy with his own newspaper column, and while the Juventus hierarchy may decide to ignore what he says, they won't have avoided it for his comments have been picked up by the major Italian newspapers.

Since his spell at West Ham, Alessandro Diamanti has blossomed in Italy and now at Bologna while 30, is catching the eye of the top clubs.

Juventus already have Fernando Llorente incoming in the summer, and may just decide that Higuain is too similar.

If the Old Lady do heed the words of their former top man, Arsenal's chances of signing the Argentine international could just have improved even further.

Arsenal fans what do you make of the Higuain reports? Does he have 'Arsenal DNA'?

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.
As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.
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